A Rusty Edge
by Cardinal Grief
Summary: Old and tired, Emiya Shirou decides to play a video game at his grandaughter's advice. How was he supposed to know the game would actually become real?


**Hello and thank you for reading the first Fate Stay/Night and Overlord Crossover. When I saw the Overlord anime I felt drawn in by the story, an average salary man from Japan becomes an undead lich in a videogame and becomes an evil overlord in real life in another world? It sounds way too complicated, but the anime was really good. So I read the Light Novel and it was even better! Man, I was so excited to write a fanfic about it.**

 **Except the anime had the same problem as DanMachi. They never actually explained any stats or what the different terms meant or even the rules of the world. So I tried to read the Light Novel again to research the story. And I discovered that the Light Novel had the exact same problem. They never explain any of the Classes or what they have for effects. The entire world is based on a video game, but we never see anything about the videogame.**

 **It was a fanfiction writer's worst nightmare. With just the bare amount of rules explained, I was trying to write a fanfic about a universe I barely knew even after hours of research. In order to make up for it, I tried to make up some kind of fictional logic. Here we go!**

 **In terms of classes, the levelling system I will use in the story will be like this:**

 **Knight (15 levels)-Great Knight (10 levels)-Master Knight (5 levels).**

 **The 'Knight' class is the starting point and after the player reaches lvl 15, he will advance to the ' Great Knight' class. When the player has reached lvl 10 in the Cursed Knight class, he will advance to the 'Master Knight' class. The maximum level in the Master Knight class is 5. To max out that particular branch one would have to spend 30 levels on the Knight classes. It is also possible to choose another evolution tree by mastering another class at the same time. So by mastering the Knight class and the 'Sorcerer' class, it would be possible to unlock 'Cursed Knight' as a class. Or it's possible to master Knight and 'Cleric' to unlock the 'Templar' and 'Holy Knight'. All of the higher classes are unlocked this way except for the straight classes. Is that clear? Because that's the way I understood it.**

 **However I have not been able to find any kind of manual or explanation regarding the advancement of the classes. There is no mentioning of what class is after a player has mastered the Knight class. So once again I will have to be semi-factual about it. These are the classes I thought were connected to each other.**

 **Knight- Great Knight- Master Knight**

 **Knight-Unholy Knight- Cursed Knight**

 **Knight-Holy Knight- Templar**

 **Guardian-Black Guard-Shield Lord**

 **Sword master-Sword Dancer-Sword Saint**

 **Cleric-High Cleric-Bishop**

 **Fighter-Single Brawler-Striker**

 **Druid-High Druid-Nature's Herald**

 **As for Shirou's race, It's part of the human races. I'll explain why he's in Ainz Oal Gown later, but it's not all that much of a secret. Aside from Shirou, there was another player in the guild who used a'human' race (dark elf) avatar called Akemi. Elves and dwarves are considered to be part of the human races due to their mostly human appearence. Since Shirou's race appeared to be mostly human, they are considered to be a human race.**

 **These are just examples that are most likely incorrect, but it's the best I can do without a guidebook in my hands.**

 **I'd also like to inform you of the progress of my other fics while I still have your attention.**

 **Archer of Black (20%)**

 **Is It Wrong To Be A Hero In A Dungeon? (10%)**

 **Rider of the East (5%)**

 **UNSC Marauder (20%)**

 **As some of you might have noticed, AOB has become my 'Flagship' story. It's the one I spend the most time on and the one I have thought out the entire plot for. Those of you who are disappointed I'm not working on the fic you want me to might not like what I'm currently writing, but it's what I want to write. I'm sorry, but that's the way the cookie crumbles…**

 **Did I use that expression right?**

 **Hopefully the other authors who write Overlord stories might see my story as some kind of bar when it comes to word count. I'd like to read more Overlord storied, but all of them have such low word counts. It's a shame.**

 **In case you're interested, I made a map using the already existing map** **of the Overlord universe. Go ahead and check it out... if you dare!**

 **Well, please enjoy and don't forget to review. Let me know if I make any mistakes!**

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Enri had been running for hours it felt like. Her legs, which were toned and fit from days of farm work, were exhausted and her lungs felt like someone had poured water down her throat and frozen it to ice. Her every breath came out in desperate pants, trying to force the air inside only for her tired body to stop her lungs from working. Clenching the hand of her sister, she knew she was better off in terms of energy. Nemu was younger than her by far and had not been able to help out in the fields as much as Enri. If Enri was exhausted then Nemu was on the verge of collapse.

Forcing her legs to continue, she tightened her grip on Nemu's hand. She couldn't let go now, not after their parents had entrusted Nemu to her and told them to get away. Mother and Father, they had sacrificed themselves in order to give Enri and Nemu a chance of survival. She had to keep running, for Nemu's sake.

The soldiers behind her did not seem to give up however and they showed no signs of fatigue. Despite wearing armour made from steel and carrying both a shield and a sword, the knights weren't even out of breath. How was that possible?! They had begun fighting before Enri had begun to run away from them. They should be on the ground, puking their guts out. How were they still so full of energy?

A faint trace of green light reflected off the silver armour of a knight and suddenly she realized just why the knights had the energy to keep up with her. They were using magic to increase their stamina! Despair filled Enri as she watched the knights run at full speed after her, not even a drop of sweat visible on their faces. If Enri wasn't using all her strength to keep breathing, she might have laughed at the futility of it all. She had been hoping the knights would tire out and give up on chasing her. That way, even if the village was doomed, at least she could take Nemu and leave for a neighbouring village, but now that hope had been mercilessly snuffed out like a candle in the wind. She knew it, she would be the one to collapse, not the knights. No, it would be Nemu who would collapse first, her younger sister's breathing was ragged and her face was red. It was only a matter of time before Nemu fell and they would be captured by the knights.

' _No, it can't end like this. This is just so… so unfair. Why can't it go as we hoped just this once?'_ Enri thought in despair. It was always like this, they were always the ones to suffer so that someone else could gain from it. Every spring they would give away most of their harvest to the nobles in charge of the village, leaving the farmers to either starve or sell their belongings to buy back their own crops. Even her own cousin had been sold to some noble in exchange for food, her life as a farmer's daughter resulting instead as a brothel's 'whore' because slaves were illegal these days.

Her entire life, every year and every day, had Carne village been her home, but now even that had been taken away from them. Family murdered, friends slaughtered and fields aflame, their everything had been reduced to dust in the mere hour she had been outside. Simply because they were a village on the border, because they did not share any blood with the nobles, they had been abandoned and left to die at the hands of the Empire. Was this how it was supposed to end? At the hands of some soldier willing to stain his hands for a purse of coins?

At last, it seemed Nemu's legs could hold her no further and she stumbled, dragging Enri down with her. The soldiers saw this and drew their swords, smiling as they did so. Seeing that their target was Nemu, Enri shielded her younger sister with her body as best she could.

"Nee-chan?" Nemu asked, her eyes filling up with tears and her breathing uncontrollable. She had finally hit her limit, her exhausted little body being unable to keep with her will.

"Don't worry, Nemu, it will all be over soon. Nee-chan is here so… Ugh!" Enri bit back a scream when one of the knights slashed at her back, cutting deep into the muscles and bones and drenching her clothes in blood, her blood.

"Hehe, did you see that? She barely flinched when I cut her. This one's got some backbone to her. Well, she won't have much for long though. How many cuts do you think she'll endure before her spine is cut?" The knight joked with his comrade, showing off the blood on his blade.

"These village girls are kind of tough, it's hard to say for sure. Ten strikes maybe?" Another knight guessed, as if they were watching a duel between knights and not an execution.

"It's a damn shame though, to such a pretty flower. You think I can have a go at her? I'd love to get between her legs before we leave, all the whores back home are so prude and dull." A third soldier asked the leader, a lecherous smile on his disgusting face. The other knights frowned at his question.

"Dumbass, raping women about to die is the most exhausting thing to do on the battlefield. They're so desperate to live they'll do anything to kill you, even if it means biting your dick off." The first knight said, lecturing his subordinate.

"I meant after you had killed her off course, I'm not stupid." That remark made all the knights laugh, as if fucking her cold corpse was an act of comedy. Enri closed her eyes to stop the tears from flowing, a worthless attempt to stop Nemu from seeing her pain. The blood flowing from her back was warm and soothing, even as she herself felt cold and lightheaded.

She shook her head to try and remain lucid. If he passed out here then Nemu would be next. She couldn't allow that to happen, she needed to find a way to get Nemu to safety. An idea, she needed an idea. Something to convince the soldiers that it would be for the best to let Nemu go. A disgusting thought appeared in her head, but it was the best she had to go on. Gathering her resolve, she turned to the soldiers.

"If I… If I let you have my body, will you let my sister go?" She said through her tears, even as her pained sobs interrupted her as she spoke. She had nothing left to lose except her sister, and she would make certain Nemu survived.

The knight stopped their laughter long enough to stare at her in disbelief before redoubling their efforts. The sight made Enri seethe with anger and humiliation.

"What's so funny?" She asked them, her anger bubbling inside her.

"It's just… just so funny how you would let us fuck you to save your sister, when the reason we chased you so far was because the captain wanted your sister himself!" The first soldier said, his voice barely human anymore to her, his laughter making it sound more like the shrill shrieking of demonspawn.

"Aye, Captain Belius has special wants and one of them includes young children." The second soldier laughed.

"Don't blame us for your own mistakes, girl. If you had simply left your sister behind we would have let you live. Now on the other hand, you caused us so much trouble I'm afraid we're out of mercy at the moment." The third soldier grinned as he unbuckled his belt.

Enri stared at the soldiers, her eyes widening in fear. She never had a chance to save Nemu to begin! It was all some cruel game the soldiers were playing, and she was the pawn. How could this have happened? How could the soldiers do something like this? What had they done to be abandoned by the nobles like this?

"Well, there you have it, girlie. Sorry about this, I'll try to make it painless so why don't you lift your head up and show me your throat?" The first knight said, raising his sword in preparation for the kill.

She wanted to scream, to rage at the people responsible for this. She wanted to spend her days with Nemu and Father and Mother and the rest of the village. She wanted to tend to the fields and help skin the rabbits Father brought back from the forest. She wanted to teach Nemu how to knit and sew dresses. She wanted to… She wanted to…

She wanted live!

"Please, save us." She whispered, knowing that not a single person would come. They would need an army to save the village, but right now she only wanted to save her sister and herself.

She wanted someone to save them.

Closing her eyes for the final blow, she held Nemu tight to her chest. She didn't want Nemu to see her die so she tried to cover her eyes with her body. Soon it would all be over. No more pain, no more sorrow, the knight would swing his sword and she'd die.

Except the knight didn't swing his sword with all his might. Instead he lowered it slowly, an expression of fear on his face. The soldiers around him were acting in a similar manner, all of them backing away from Enri, their bodies practically screaming with caution. Not a single one of them were looking at Enri or Nemu anymore, instead they were focusing their eyes on something behind here.

"To raise your blades on two young girls… How despicable. Have you no shame?" A deep and smooth voice said from behind her. Turning her head to see behind her, she was met with a face she could only describe as fierce.

Dark skin which clashed with his snow white hair, a body rippling with muscles and a height which dwarfed her own, clothes unlike anything she had ever seen before. His hands held two swords, one as white as his hair, the other as black as night. His scowl was enough to send fear through the hearts of the knights, but it was his eyes that stood out the most.

His crimson eyes.

"W-Who the hell are you?" The first knight yelled at the newcomer, his hands shaking with fear. He had raised his sword, but the tip was as steady as a leaf in the wind.

"Does it really matter who I am? Or are you simply asking me in order to appear intimidating?" The newcomer's eyes looked at Enri and she could see that the pupils of his eyes were narrow slits, like a snake, but the emotion they carried was not a hostile one or that of a hunter's.

It was concern she could see in his eyes.

"Just shut up and tell me your name, bastard! You are interfering with Sla- Baharuth Imperial orders." The knight roared furiously, waving his sword to appear stronger than he actually was. Just a few minutes ago she would have fallen for it, but now that she was in the presence of the stranger it felt like watching a child wave a stick around. Snorting in amusement, the stranger smiled.

"Not that you deserve to hear it, but…" He said, lifting his swords into a stance. "It's Shirou Emiya."

And then the stranger charged at the knights.

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 _It started with a console._

 _A sleek piece of plastic and wires, the likes of which Shirou had never seen before._

 _Emiya Shirou was not the most technologically gifted person to walk the earth, but he was at the very least decent. He had spent so much time tinkering with different appliances to the point that he could fix any hardware problem as long as he had enough time to properly analyse the object, so a gaming console was not that big of a deal, but he was totally unprepared for it when Rin suddenly dropped a box of something in his lap and sat down by the table with him._

 _ **2126, February 2, London**_

"Rin-chan, what is this?" Shirou said, eyeing the suspicious piece of technology in his hands. It looked like a helmet, but it was way too scientifically advanced and delicate for it to be used for protection.

"It's a gaming console. I bought it last night when its latest game had a grand premiere. I even bought the limited edition of it." The girl in front of him said while she drank the tea she had made for them just minutes ago. "It's my present to you, my congratulations in becoming friends with Lord El Melloi V."

He stared at her, expecting her to explain. Receiving no explanation, he sought one for himself. "I don't' remember becoming friends with the boy, I've only met him once and we barely spoke." He protested loudly. Noticing that his great-something granddaughter was avoiding eye contact, he realized she was guilty of something. "What did you do, Rin-chan?" He sighed. Blushing deeply, Rin stuttered at his accusation.

"W-What did I do? It's not my fault El Melloi didn't like me because I don't play videogames! Of all the things he inherited from his grandpa that's the only thing he cares about." She slammed her hands on the table, almost spilling his freshly made pot of tea. "If I hadn't lied and told him you were a casual gamer he would have cut the funding for my next project. It was a necessary lie!" She pouted as she sat back down again.

"And how does that translate into getting me a gaming console?" He continued his interrogation, knowing how to read her when she was upset. She was so much like her namesake that it was like looking at a photograph.

"Well, he asked me what kind of games you liked and I said something about Role-Playing Games. I don't really remember, he was holding the denial stamp over my request for additional funds. Then he wanted to find a game to play with another magus so I volunteered you for the job." She admitted, happy now that she had told the truth.

"Judging by the fact that I'm holding a console in my hands means you got the funds you wanted, am I right?" he asked dryly, seeing her nod with vigour. "Good, then half of it goes to remodelling my kitchen."

Rin's smile turned forced faster than he had expected. "Eh?"

"After all, I'm the reason you're getting those funds. Now that I'm going to be playing videogames with El Melloi I won't have time to plan the renovation so it's only natural I get some sort of reparation." He smiled at his granddaughter. Everyone even remotely related to Rin was just so easy to tease.

"Well, I have to learn how to play this game now so I'll leave the dishes to you. Bye!" He said cheerfully as he walked to the living room, his cane in hand.

Sitting down was a hassle at his age, even with the cane he had grown so fond of so he simply let himself fall onto the large couch in front of the TV. He opened the cardboard box, pulling out the console itself and all of its components. Just like the cover advertised, the black helmet looked more futuristic than anything he had ever owned. Analysing it, he was surprised by the discoveries he made. Unlike the games he had played with Shinji back in school, this was not played on a screen. Reading from the box, he saw the name of the technological wonders used for the console.

"Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game? That's a mouthful, isn't it?" From what he could tell, the console used some hardcore technology to let the player dive into a virtual reality, letting the player play the game with his body instead of using a mouse and keyboard. Had science really gotten that far? He wouldn't know, it was almost a century since he had played an actual videogame, and even then it was only to spend time with his grandchildren.

Fumbling around with the wires and the power cord, it took him a whole hour to get everything ready to play. He had moved to his bedroom by that point, seeing how Rin would probably get mad at him for occupying the living room. Reading through the manual one last time, he made sure he knew how to log out. It wouldn't be funny if he found himself stuck inside the videogame with no way out.

Putting the console helmet on his head, he took a deep breath before calming himself down. Lying down on the bed as the manual advised him to, he inserted the game disk and activated the console.

And then, darkness arrived.

For about ten seconds the entire world was composed of nothing but darkness. Then, as if someone had flipped a light switch, everything turned white. Even his body was an illuminated mass of ivory, lacking any features aside from two arms. It was an unnerving feeling, to suddenly have a completely different anatomy than what he had grown used to his entire life. As he was inspecting his shapeless body, a screen appeared in front of him.

 **New User detected.  
Please create User profile.**

The feel and design of the game was almost overwhelming and his one-hundred and thirty-nine year old brain had trouble understanding everything he saw. Had he really been so isolated that he had been left behind by the science he always preached to Rin about? After all the times he told Rin to keep up with the technological advances humanity made and then letting himself get left behind, it made him feel like a hypocrite.

Shaking his head free from such thoughts, he got back to work. Using his fingerless arms to push the **YES** option, he was greeted by a whole slew of menu screens.

 **Please enter your name.**

Typing was harder without any fingers, but he was eventually able to enter all of his personal info. He wished he could have seen the faces of the people inspecting the age of the players. Having an old geezer who was close to a century and a half playing their game would probably warrant an investigation.

Once he had created his profile, another window popped up. Unlike the other menus though, this one had the theme of the game he would be playing.

 _ **YGGDRASIL**_

Pressing the **START** button, the menu changed once more to that of a profile menu. Suddenly the bleach white environment turned into a forest in the middle of spring, with leaves and flowers blooming everywhere. Looking back at the window, he was confused by what he saw.

 **No character profile detected.  
Please create character profile.**

His confusion was short-lived as he recalled what Shinji had told him years ago. His profile was different from his character so this was the actual character he'd be playing with. Clicking on the **OK** option, another screen appeared. It was telling him to create a character name. Scratching his head, he found it surprisingly hard to choose one. What would he write? His name? No, that seemed too dangerous to give out to the internet. When he finally came up with a good name he found it to be taken. Almost all of the names he chose had already been picked by other players.

 _Saber?_

 **Please choose another name.**

 _Archer?_

 **Please** **choose another name.**

 _Lancer?_

 **Please choose another name.**

He tried all the servant classes he could think of, even Avenger. It was only when he was out of options and simply tried the weakest name he could think of that he actually succeeded.

 **Your character name "Saber Shirou" is available. Do you wish to proceed?**

By that point he just wanted the whole thing to be over and clicked on **OK**. He was suddenly transported to a different place. A long line of different creatures appeared in front of him, some massive, some small. A few of them appeared to be human while others looked like something you'd find in a kaiju film.

 **Please choose the race of your character.**

Scrolling the list of races possible, he gaped at the sheer number of them. There must have been over a hundred different races to choose between! It would take him an hour to read through them all, and this was just the first step. Maybe he should have bought a guide to help him pick the easiest race, Shinji had always said guides were the way to go.

Then again, Shinji wasn't the smartest person when it came to life.

He began to read over the description of the different races, but with the amount of choices he quickly felt his patience wear thin. It was only the first stage of the character creation process and he was already tired from the ordeal. He was just about to pick the human race when he noticed something in particular.

 **Dragonewt**

Clicking on the title, a small screen appeared in front of him to show the description of the race. Upon doing so, the line of races spun around to reveal what appeared to be a man, but with an eye-catching appearance. Crimson eyes with slits for pupils, a height close to his own if not taller and a very muscular build, he looked very much like Lancer in the Holy Grail War. On the other hand, there were some rather important differences. The ears were slightly pointed and he could see sharp fangs when the character opened his mouth. The nails resembled claws more than anything else and smoke trailed from his mouth and nostrils. Looking down at the race info, he read the summary of the character.

 **Dragonewt, a human race.  
The result of a union between dragon and mortals, the dragonewt is part of the human races due to their human appearance and lack of racial levels. Boasting a high affinity to close combat and a high affinity to Magic, dragonewts are rare due to the low fertility rate between their draconic and human parents. Dragonewts possess a high Magic Resistance thanks to their draconic blood. Dragonewts are not to be confused with dragonkin. **

**(Only available to players who own a Limited edition of YGGDRASIL)  
You are eligible to play as this race, Emiya Shirou.**

"That's right, Rin-chan did say she bought the Limited Edition. I guess she really wanted to impress El Melloi V if she decided to spend the extra cash on something she'll never enjoy." He noted with a bit of humour. Just like his first wife, his granddaughter was quite possessive of her money. Out of all his grandkids, Rin-chan was the one who resembled Rin the most. On the other hand, Chloe resembled Sakura the most.

Thinking about his family and their different traits was always a good way to distract him, but he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so he forced himself to focus on the race which had caught his eye; the dragonewt. While Saber possessed the blood and soul of a dragon, the character in front of him resembled the demigods summoned in the war more than his own servant. The race he had found was the mixed breed between humans and a supernatural being, just like Berserker and Lancer, and Gilgamesh even.

Berserker, arguably the strongest servant to be summoned in the Holy Grail War, was the halfbreed known as Heracles. Likewise, Lancer was also a demigod and even Rider, if what his sweet and beloved second wife Sakura said was true, was a halfbreed in a sense of the word. Gilgamesh and Iskander of the fourth war were also demigods. Saber was even the result of a human being infused with the blood of a dragon. Should he choose the race which resembled a large part of his enemies and his only servant? His hand twitched in hesitation. There might be other races, with better stats and skills, but how long would it take for him to find them in the mountain of text he would have to go through? He was tired and wanted to go to bed, did he have the time to go through the entire list? No, he would have to settle for this one.

Clicking on the **Confirm** option, he was transported to the Character customization menu. From what the info screen said, this was where he could choose appearance and class for the character. Editing the character's appearance to resemble his own, Shirou was finally satisfied with the result. His hair was perhaps not as long as the character, but it was still the same bleach white and the same haircut. His skin tone was the same tanned brown as well, but the major difference was the height and eyes. Shirou had grown a lot since he fought in the Holy Grail War, finally surpassing Archer in height for some reason, but the character in front of him was even taller than he was, reaching slightly above him in height. His eyes were also the same crimson he had seen when Lancer had stabbed him in the chest. Even the slits reminded him of Gilgamesh's crimson orbs.

Of course, this appearance was based on how he looked in his prime. He didn't want to play as the frail old man he was.

The moment his finger touched the ' **Confirm** ' button, a new window appeared asking him to choose his first job class.

"There's more?" He cried out. Groaning with impatience, took a look at the long list. Deciding to simply get it over with, he picked the first job which seemed suitable. Clicking on the 'Knight' option, a large window appeared in front of him, blocking all other window screens.

 **Your character 'Saber Shirou' is a Dragonewt of the Knight class.  
Is this correct?**

Hitting the **Confirm** button, a new message was written on the window screen.

 **You will now be transported to the starting town of the level one players.  
Good luck and enjoy your adventure.**

As the light increased enough to blind him, he had to close his non-existent eyes to shield them from the phantom pain. When the light disappeared and he was finally able to see again, he noticed that his arms actually had fingers and he was wearing dull brown clothes. Looking around, he saw all manners of beasts around him, all walking along like they had somewhere to be. He could see a slime talking to a bird-ish looking man and an octopus monster conversing with a white knight. If he didn't know he was playing a virtual reality game he would have thought he had gone mad.

Seeing a message pop up in front of him, he began to read it. It simply said that NPCs with objects above their heads could be interacted with and to go to the NPC with a question mark above their head.

The most important thing he noticed however was the lack of pain.

Holding the record for oldest human in the Book of Guinness World Records, his body wasn't exactly in tip top condition. His body ached from the arthritis and his bones were the victim of constant fractures. Age hadn't been an issue as long as he had Avalon and he reckoned the only reason he had outlived both his wives by such a large margin was because of the Noble Phantasm in his body. At the age of a hundred and twenty-nine, he still looked like he was no more than twenty years old. He could probably have survived well into his fifth century if he hadn't given Avalon away.

He didn't really have a choice in the matter. His and Sakura's great-great grandchild had been born with a weak body and the doctors had predicted the child wouldn't survive the month out. Rather than to live forever knowing he could have done something to save his many times grandchild, he had chosen to remove Avalon and give it to Chloe. The child had miraculously survived and grown up to be strong and healthy, but his own body had not taken the lack of a Noble Phantasm well. In the ten years since he had given Avalon away, his body had aged more than a hundred years and that was even with the traced copies of Avalon he had made. The rapid aging had deteriorated his body and he was constantly suffering from all the ailments old age offered.

Now however, he couldn't feel a single thing, not even an ounce of pain. It felt like he was no older than twenty again. Taking a few experimental jumps, he laughed when he didn't feel any bones breaking. He must have made quite the sight, jumping and laughing for no reason whatsoever. Looking up, he saw the NPC with a large yellow mark above his head. Remembering the message about talking to NPCs, he took his first step in Yggdrasil.

Doing so, he took his first step into his new life.

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Twelve years of hard work had accumulated in this.

An empty table, with only two of the forty one chairs being used. The table Shirou had designed after the round table used by Arturia and her knights looked more sad than impressive with the only people seated being Shirou, in his game avatar and Herohero, in his slime avatar. Shirou was in his dragonewt character, wearing his armour he had spent months gathering resources for. It might resemble Archer's clothes, but the entire costume was divine class. From the boots to the black muscle cuirass, the armour had been crafted from materials such as dragon scales, angel wings and Demon God bones. Even the holy shroud, which was an exact copy of Archer's, was made from materials only dropped from a boss once a year.

' _What a pitiful sight we must make. All that time we spent on our characters and here we are, alone with not a single soul left to fight against_.' He thought with laughter, but it was understandable. Despite the incredible following Yggdrasil had gained over the years, newer and more advanced DMMORPGs were released each year, each one stripping away at the fan base of the world's largest RPG. When the company which had developed game had decided to shut the servers down due to the expense of hosting them exceeding the income the game generated it was only a matter of time before all the remaining players left. It was nothing they could do.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it Herohero-san?" Shirou said, his voice still cheerful despite the somewhat tragic purpose of the reunion. When you reached Shirou's age you had a completely different perspective on things.

"It must have been over two years. The last time we met was during the Christmas raid so a little over two years." The slime said, its body leaking all over the place as it spoke. The Christmas raid was the last raid the guild had been able to participate in, the lack of players making any subsequent raids impossible.

"I guess you're right. How have you been?" Herohero had been one of the few people Shirou had met in real life, his constant pain being the root of this issue. It was hard to meet up with people who spend most of their lives in japan when you were stuck in your apartment all day, your grandchildren all around you and fussing over every single thing you did.

"I've been good, but the overtime lately has been killing me. I've been going to bed at six AM sometimes, just to pass the deadline." Herohero complained softly.

"That can't be good for your body. You should take a vacation, see the sights and relax a little. I hear France is nice this time of year." He said.

' _Now that there aren't any vampires trying to take over the Eiffel tower.'_ He thought. That had been the work of his youngest grandson, Emiya Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu had joined the Clock Tower and become one of the most successful enforcers in the Association. _'Living up to the Emiya name'_ he had said when asked how he was doing.

That cheeky little brat, Shirou didn't kill his first dead apostle until he was at least eighteen years old. For the kid to beat him with a whole year… Someone was going to get an earful from Chloe once he got home.

"I guess I'll take your advice on that. However, I thought for sure that Momonga-sama would have been here today. It's odd for him not to be here on the last day of Yggdrasil." The slime said, his face not moving even when the words emanated from it.

"He's still in the hospital after he collapsed during a game session. They don't know when he'll wake up, but it appears it won't be until his body has recovered at least. That idiot tried to marathon all the dungeons in a single area. It was a good thing his neighbours called for an ambulance, he'd be dead if they hadn't." Shirou said, his own mouth not moving either. Despite the technologic wonder Yggdrasil was, the engine was still limited. The programmers had decided to budget their resources and had neglected the facial movements of the players.

"Somehow I can imagine him doing that. Momonga spent so much time and money on Nazarick, I'll feel sorry for him if he doesn't get to spend the last day in-game." Herohero said.

"Yeah, I'm going to visit him next time I visit japan. Would you like to join me? I think he's going to need someone to help him through this. He was the most dedicated player in the guild."

"You are right about that. Anyway, I should go now, I can't be late for work tomorrow, I have a presentation to get ready for." The slime said as it moved its gelatinous arm in the air.

"I understand, I'll see you around sometime." Shirou said, waving his hand. Herohero sighed and if Yggdrasil

"It'd be fun if we could see each other in a sequel and play together again." The blue slime gave these final parting words before disappearing.

Silence.

With the disappearance of Herohero, Shirou was the only player left in the large hall. In the room he had spent so much time designing and renovating, the only thing he could hear was the silence of solitude.

"'Playing together in the sequel' huh? It'd be nice if I had that kind of time." He muttered to no one in particular.

Good things come and good things go, that was the natural order of life. Shirou had outlived his natural lifespan by far, he shouldn't have any reason to ask for more. Quite the opposite actually, Shirou was tired from all the fighting he spent his life doing. Like a blade which had been dragged along the side of the road, his edge had become dull and rusty. The thought of seeing Rin and sakura again, that was his wish. It had been so long since he had seen their faces, almost seventy years since he had seen Rin, even more since he had been able to see Sakura's gentle smile.

He had accomplished a lot of things in his life. The Emiya family had been elevated to the status of noble in the Clock Tower, something he never in his wildest dreams, or nightmares, could have imagined. Lorelei and he had somehow become friends after going hunting for the same dead apostle on the same night and ended mistaking each other for the bloodsucker in question. After a long and drawn out battle, they finally stopped after realizing their opponent wasn't a blood drinking necromancer and they were actually able to get along after that.

He had also been named the godfather for Waver Velvet's son, their experiences with the Holy Grail War and his defeat of Gilgamesh being the main reason the two men of completely different origins were able to bond. After publishing a few research papers about structural analysis and reinforcement, Shirou had been invited to become a lecturer at Clock Tower, something the Archibald family had raged and roared about for months. The Einzberns even sent assassins after him, but when you have faced off against both your future self and Gilgamesh, a few assassins aren't really that scary.

He had married Rin and Sakura in a secret ceremony a few years after the Holy Grail War. Despite his curiosity, neither Rin nor Sakura had ever told him why they were willing to share him or even why Rin had been the one to suggest it. He could understand how Sakura was a magus, even if she had less talent for it than he did. Shinji had been the master of Rider and the Matou family had been a family of magi. He had always suspected that Sakura was a magus after he had found out Shinji was a master, but she had never said a word about her past, aside from the fact that she was adopted.

As the years passed and his children became parents themselves, he never lost sight of his goal to become a hero of justice. Spending his years fighting monsters and men, he was always reminded to come home by his adorable wives. Even though Rin was the official wife in the family registry, neither she nor Sakura made any mention of it. They had become one big, loving family with their grandchildren coming over to visit frequently. The Emiya estate in japan had become somewhat of a day-care center, with parents dropping off their children with their loving grandparents. He felt happy, and it was in those few moments he could actually forget the hill he had seen at the end of Archer's life.

Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. Sakura passed away at the age of seventy, her strength zapped by the chemotherapy the doctors were giving her. It turned out the cancer which had killed Sakura was hereditary and Rin followed her sister ten years later. After that he spent his life taking care of his remaining family, his body being sustained by Avalon and still quite lively. Many years later he gave the Noble Phantasm away to Emiya Chloe and his health took a nosedive. It had gotten so bad he had to move in with his grandchild, Emiya Rin. He didn't mind it so much, Rin and Chloe had always been his favourite descendants, something he always told them in secret. He just didn't want to be a burden on his family, which was the reason why he always got up extra early to cook breakfast and pack the lunchboxes for them. Chloe, taking after the many times great grandmother, always did give him that disappointed frown whenever he took over the kitchen. She had inherited both his and Sakura's love for cooking it seemed and she was just as kind-hearted as Sakura. Watching her decrepit old grandfather cook for her and her cousin worried her for some reason.

' _Sorry Chloe, your grandpa is a rebel and always will be.'_

Now he was here, alone, in his final escape from the endless pain and aches of old age. He supposed he would have to find another dive game, now that Yggdrasil was shutting down. He had heard rumours of a new game which was about to come out, the one about swords. Sword art-something, he could go and check it out sometime.

"Oh well, before the server shuts down, let's have one last look around The Great Tomb of Nazarick, shall we?" he said wearily as he stood up. The thought of going back to reality and feeling old again wasn't something he was looking forward to.

Turning to the door, a glint of gold caught his attention.

All guilds needed to fulfil a certain criteria to be counted as an official guild. They needed a base for their guild, a Headquarters which could be taken over or defended in case of invasion. Another was the guild weapon. Symbolizing the guild, the destruction of the guild weapon meant the destruction of the guild. Despite being one of the most powerful guilds in the game, Ainz Ooal Gown was an exception to the rule.

Quite the opposite, it was the shining example.

Floating in the air, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown was made from countless boss drops and event prizes. In terms of in game currency, it was probably the most expensive item created, rivalling World class items in worth. Holding seven God class orbs in the mouths of the seven snakes on the top of the staff, it was made from hundreds of crafting materials dyed in gold and carved in such a way that the handles spiralled and curved in what could only be described as wicked.

It had never been used, not since it had first been created. Only the guildmaster had ever held the finished product in his hands and that had only been in order to confirm the success of the crafting. Shirou had never been very interested in the staff, but he had to admit it was impressive, for a piece of visual software programmed by a bunch of gamers.

Only the guildmaster was allowed to wield the staff, but Momonga was still in the hospital and wouldn't be able to log in before the servers shut down. It'd be a waste to let all the hard work the guild put into the staff go to waste. Grabbing a hold of the weapon, he felt his Personal Skill activate when he touched it.

 **Knight of the Arcane.**

Just like Momonga's **Dark Wisdom** , his Personal Skill allowed him to go beyond the borders of his class limits. As someone who had learnt mostly job classes in the Warrior category, his class was focused on close combat and melee weapons, making magic and staffs less powerful under most circumstances. His Personal Skill, Knight of the Arcane, allowed him to use magic several tiers higher than his build usually allowed. It was a specialized skill, unlocking it required the player to level up in several job classes, including Knight, Fencer and Archer as well as several Magic Caster classes in order to create a balanced build between close combat and magic. It was extremely hard to unlock it since he had chosen a knight build, known for using levels to increase their physical stats instead of magic ones.

Grasping the golden handle in his iron grip, a large stream of black and read energy spewed forth from the staff, the vile mist forming faces writhing in torment for a short second before vanishing into thin air. Giving the staff a careful look, he couldn't help but sigh at the effects.

"I know they're all part of the heteromorphic races, but do we really have to look so evil all the time? Why go out of our way to appear evil when we could have done something more productive instead?" He said out loud. Aside from one other player, Shirou was the only player to use a human race. He had trouble associating with the evil image Ulbert was constantly trying to paint Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Alright then, let's go!" He said confidently, strolling out of the meeting hall with confidence. He was going to spend the last fifteen minutes with style.

* * *

 **ARE**

* * *

Walking to the throne room had taken more time than he had thought. A whole five minutes had been wasted simply walking the distance while another five had been spent admiring the artwork adorning the walls and ceiling. Now, as he sat on the throne normally reserved for the guildmaster, he couldn't help but to enjoy the view.

Sebas Tian and the Pleiades stood on one side of the grand hall, their backs as straight as a ruler. Albedo, the supervisor of the Floor Guardians and the strongest guardian in terms of defence as well as the NPC created by Smaragdina Tabula, stood the closest to the throne, her posture implying complete and utter servitude. The banners representing the Fortyone members of the guild hung on the sides of the hall, the bloodred fabric and the black sigils having hung there for several years now, completely still due to the lack of wind in the throne hall.

Five minutes remaining before the servers shut down and he was forced to wake up in a world of pain and agony. He sighed in grief, wishing there was something he could do in the meantime. He could always go outside to fight the monsters, but with his overpowered build along with the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown made it impossible for him to find a fun opponent without entering the boss dungeons which would take significantly longer than five minutes. He'd have to wait inside the guild for the end to come.

"Let's see, what to do? What to do?" He asked out loud. Looking around, his eyes fell on the NPC closest to him.

"Albedo, huh? She was a demon, if I'm remembering it correctly. What kind of settings did she have again?" Opening the setting screen, he was greeted by an enormous wall of text. It would have been enough to create a moderately advanced program, but instead it was merely the personality programming of an NPC which rarely saw battle. Who would waste time on something like that? …Oh, Tabula-san was the creator of Albedo. That explained it, only Tabula would waste hours on programming an NPC with endless personality settings.

Reaching the end of the settings, he gaped at the last sentence. (Of course, he didn't actually gape, the physics and graphics engine having restricted the faces of players to a single expression. It was merely a figure of speech. )

"'Oh, and she's a total Nymphomaniac ;)'" He said out loud, mimicking Tabula's voice. Glancing to the NPC on his side, nothing about her would ever suggest she was something so vulgar.

"Kids these days, wasting their time one something so stupid." He almost wanted to slap Tabula on the back of the head for wasting the time he could have been out adventuring, but he knew deep down that nothing would have made the man change. He was almost as stubborn as Shirou, something Shirou could actually respect him for.

But this couldn't be tolerated. He had been hoping to have a dignified end to the game, something he could be proud of after he logged out. This made him feel like the experience was cheapened, as of Tabula's hormones were still present despite the man not being logged in at all.

"Altering the settings of another player's NPC is against the rules, but I doubt Tabula is going to find out if I tweak the words a little." Using the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, he opened the Editor for Albedo's settings. Erasing the line concerning the NPC's sexual desires, he thought about what to add. Did he really need to add anything? Erasing a part of Tabula's settings was bad enough, but to add his own preference onto the man's NPC was like taking drawing sketches over another man's painting.

On the other hand, Albedo was just a few words away from reaching the maximum number of words allowed for programming. Something told him Tabula had intentionally added command after command in order to fill the entire slot used for programming. If he left it as it was then he'd be spitting on Tabula's efforts.

"Stupid brats, making me think when I should be relaxing." Steeling himself for what was to come, he decided on what to do.

"'She's very affectionate with her beloved.'" He wrote diplomatically. It still carried the affections of the creator of the NPC, but at least it was made in a way that wasn't completely tasteless now. He also filled the entire setting quota now so Tabula couldn't complain about that, if he ever shows up. There only one minute left before the servers deactivated. Dismissing the command screen, he settled down on the throne.

 **23:59:35**

 **23:59:36**

 **23:59:37**

' _I need to get up early tomorrow and cook for Rin and Chloe. They have that big lecture on spiritual evocation and Chloe needs her sleep. I wonder what they want for breakfast. Would pancakes be good? No, too much fat too early.'_

 **23:59:54**

 **23:59:55**

 **23:59:56**

' _I have to make sure to call Kiritsugu too. The boy needs to learn his limits before he tries to fight against someone out of his league. Honestly, where does that boy get his stupidity from? It can't be from me, it has to be the boy's father. I never liked that man, I always knew the man was going to leave Taiga if she got pregnant.'_

 **23:59:58**

 **23:59:59**

 **00:00:00**

' _Damn, I forgot to buy milk last night! I guess it was impossible to make pancakes from the beginning then, wasn't it? I have to go out and buy some before the girls wake up. Chloe is going to yell at me, but maybe she'll calm down once she gets some food in her belly. That girl could eat more than Saber if she wanted to, I guess she is just like Sakura in that regard. All the food goes to her chest, unlike Rin. Speaking of which, I need to make sure they stay away from any boys, at least until I give them the talk about Birds and Bees. Did their parents give them The Talk yet? I hope so, twenty years old and not knowing about sex is pretty sad.'_

 **00:00:01**

 **00:00:02**

 **00:00:03**

Opening his eyes, he frowned at the sight in front of him.

He wasn't in his small bedroom and he was most certainly not lying in his bed with a bed rail and safety straps. The smell of medicine and sweat was also gone and he wasn't wearing his trustworthy blue-white jersey and jeans-combo.

He was still in Yggdrasil, sitting on the throne in the throne room. He was still in his avatar, wearing the red and black armour of his game character. He was still holding the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, the seven orbs glimmering in the dim light. He was still looking at the NPCs standing by the side of the room.

' _Did the game company reschedule the shutdown? If so, I better return the staff to the meeting hall. If another guild member returns and finds me here with the staff I'm going to get yelled at for taking it without permission. But first, I better contact the GM.'_

Activating Message, he tried to send out a message to the Game Master. Only he didn't receive any kind of response. The GM Call didn't even activate, much less send anything. The entire line was as silent as the grave.

"What's going on?" Was the server in the process of shutting down by deactivating certain parts at a time? Was it even possible for a partial shutdown? Never in the twelve years of playing had Shirou experienced a partial shutdown. All the servers would automatically log out players during an update or during maintenance. Server crashes would also force players to log out and exit the game to the menu screen. How he was able to remain logged in was so far a mystery.

He tried opening the menu to show the message board, but even though he moved his hand to activate the menu, nothing happened. All he accomplished was looking like he was waving his arm after it had fallen asleep. Feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise, he could tell something had gone wrong with the shutdown.

He could feel the hair on the back of his neck?

That was wrong, so very, very wrong. Yggdrasil was a surprisingly advanced game for its age, but it did not have the graphics or the physics engine to accomplish something as detailed and difficult as recreating the hair on the player's avatar. Even games released now had a hard time getting facial expressions and texture right. It had been the same for the last twelve years, without any change. Lifting a tanned hand to his face, he felt the muscles beneath his skin as he moved his jaw around. Tightening his jaw, he felt the powerful muscles tense up for a fraction of a second before he relaxed.

"Impossible! What the hell is going on?" He said with a frown. Were Rin and Chloe paying a prank on him for spending too much time inside the dive game again? Unthinkable, Rin wasn't skilled enough with technology to use magecraft in tandem, and Chloe was too worried about him to try and prank him in his decrepit state. In other words…

This could be an enemy trap.

The moment the thought occurred to him his mind had already switched over to battle mode. Turning his face into an emotionless mask, he eyed his surroundings with a cautious eye. Taking a breath, he tried to sense if any prana was being used in his surroundings. While he was playing Yggdrasil, magecraft of any sort was impossible to use. Dive games were digital so prana didn't exist in a videogame.

Now as he breathed in the air of this 'world', his nose was assaulted by the scent prana. Thick and cloying, the prana in the room was nearly overwhelming to his sensitive nose. Grimacing, Shirou stopped inhaling the air and instead exhaled it as quickly as possible.

That settled it, this was not the game he had been playing for twelve years. He had spent years playing Yggdrasil, but never had he been able to sense prana or even smell anything at all. For him to suddenly be able to do so could have a large number of meanings, but he was able to chalk it up to the most likely ones.

A: Zelretch had decided to play one last prank on him before he croaked.

B: Someone had mastered the True Magic, Denial of Nothingness, and turned the game into a real world.

C: Zelretch had decided to play one last prank on him before he croaked.

D: He had died and for some reason his heaven, or hell, had manifested as the game he had been playing for more than a decade.

He didn't like the fact that his first and third scenarios were exactly the same. Zelretch had played far too many jokes on him not to be cautious of the old bat. He wouldn't put it past the old man not to get one last prank out of him before he began pushing daisies for a 'living'.

"Saber Shirou-sama?" A new and delicate voice spoke up. It was a voice he had never heard of before. It was a beautiful voice, without a single trace of slur or accent in her pronunciation. It was an otherworldly sound, similar to Rider's voice when she had impaled his arm with her daggers. Turning to the source of the voice, his eyes fell on Albedo. The NPC stood still when he looked at it and he tried to look behind it to find the source of the voice.

If he wasn't in already in battle mode then he would have been startled when Albedo, the NPC he had just recently altered the settings of, moved to allow him a clear view of the area behind her. Even more so, he had to force himself not to jump when the female demon NPC moved her mouth and words emerged from between her lips.

"Is something wrong, Saber Shirou-sama?" Albedo spoke, her normally expressionless eyes filled with worry.

His nerves felt as if they were filled with ice as he fought to keep his mask on. Albedo, the NPC who supervised the Floor Guardians, had just now spoken with an emotional expression on her face. An NPC, a visual piece of digital coding programmed to appear a certain way, had just now spoken with emotions. Emotions!

It wasn't that he was unable to believe what had happened. He had seen impossible things ever since he became the master of Saber, but seeing a digital entity normally incapable of any action beyond a certain set of commands acting so… human made him pause. Only something on the level of True Magic could pull something like this off, but for some reason he couldn't find a single trace of Zelretch's prana. He had been pranked by the bastard more than his fair share of times, but every time he had been tricked he had been able to sense the prana in the air. All magecraft and magic had their own scents and something as potent as The Kaleidoscope was more noticeable than a black panther on the North Pole.

That had been a weird assignment Lorelei had sent him on. If he ever saw the magus who thought it would be a good idea to let loose a chimaera made from all the big cats on the North Pole, he was going to punch the magus' teeth out.

Getting back to the problem at hand, Albedo was still looking at him with worry. Did that mean that she was 'alive' now? Her lines of coding been turned into physical and emotional reality? If so, how would he respond?

"Something has happened." He finally said, his face as emotionless as an iron mask. He doubted he could have less emotion in his expression if he was dead.

Both Albedo and Sebas seemed to acknowledge his words as they both tensed up when he spoke, Albedo's eyes widened in surprise at his words while Sebas merely looked up with a face which might as well have been carved from rock. Both of the NPCs showed emotional responses to his words, meaning both of them had been affected by whatever kind of transition had occurred. Analysing their reactions, Shirou could tell that the prana being released into the room had just increased exponentially. Had the two of them prepared themselves for battle, simply because he had implied something had gone wrong?

"What do you mean, Saber Shirou-sama? I have not sensed anything wrong." Albedo spoke curiously. Her calm and collected appearance reminded him of the nuns he had met on his travels in his youths. She would have made an excellent nun, with her behaviour and beautiful visage, were it not for the horns on her head and the pitch black wings protruding from her back. Now that he saw her as a living being, Shirou could finally understand what Tabula had said about Gap Moe. Having a demon who behaves like an angel, it was interesting to say the least.

But what was he supposed to say? What had happened exactly? A game had been materialized into the real world? It was crazy talk, but the whole situation was crazy to begin with. He needed to find out more about the event which had just taken place before he could make any assumptions. What he needed… was a scout.

"Sebas." He said, steeling his voice to make it sound more commanding. He needed to display his authority, before anything happened to undermine his position. From what he could tell of their behaviour, these two and the Pleiades seemed loyal to him, but he could say that about the rest of the Floor Guardians if they were also brought to life. The ones who worried him the most were Demiurge and Shalltear. Their creators had deliberately made their NPCs evil, simply because they thought it would be fun. It was at times like these that he really cursed Ulbert and his chuunibyou.

"Yes, Saber Shirou-sama." Sebas said, bowing as he did so. Shirou had to supress a wince as the NPC spoke his character name so respectfully. It had been a name he had chosen simply because all the other names he had tried were already picked. To hear Sebas say it with such devotion was almost cringe worthy.

"Exit Nazarick and survey the surrounding lands. Report anything you find back to me immediately." He said, his voice booming throughout the throne hall. For some reason, when he said those words with the feeling of authority behind them, he got the feeling he was acting similar to Gilgamesh. Was this hoe Gilgamesh felt when he was commanding his subjects? Probably not, the King of Heroes most likely enjoyed the feeling of having his orders obeyed.

"As you command, Saber Shirou-sama." The combat butler replied as he got up to leave. Thinking quickly, Shirou added another command.

"Take the Pleiades with you. We have no idea if there are enemies outside or how powerful the might be. Retreat if you find the opponent to be stronger than yourself." He added, partially to ensure Sebas' safety and partially to confirm if his suspicions were correct. Having several sets of eyes would validate anything Sebas' said and notice anything the butler might have missed. The reason he sent Sebas out to investigate was to find out if the entire world of Yggdrasil had been brought to life or simply a fraction of it. Regardless of how large Yggdrasil was, it was still a flat game with several layers of mapping to fool the player into thinking the world was larger than it actually was. If Yggdrasil had been turned into a reality then Sebas should quickly spot the edge of the world since Nazarick was located at the edge of the Hel Heim, the world they were located in.

Nodding in understanding, the Pleiades followed their 'superior' out of the throne hall, leaving Shirou alone with Albedo. While the maids were calm and collected, Albedo appeared more lively and full of energy. He was still having trouble accepting the fact that they had come to life, even if he could believe it to be true. For years he had considered them to be nothing more than objects, even though he had at first thought they were true artificial intelligence thanks to his old age and lack of interest in software programming. To see them smile and talk like Albedo was currently doing, it was like watching your frying pan grow a mouth and start to talk about the weather.

He sighed in exasperation. He was experiencing too much for his brain to handle it smoothly and his thought process was suffering as a result. He needed to focus on the task at hand and develop a plan to deal with the situation. Sending Sebas to inspect the surroundings was a good start, but he needed to figure out just what had happened to the rest of the NPCs. He also needed to know if his magecraft worked in the 'world' he had been transported to. He wasn't in his frail and old body anymore, he was in his game avatar. Heck, he wasn't even human anymore! Despite that, his prana senses still worked the same way and if he focused he could sense his circuits flare in response.

Had his soul been transferred onto the avatar and then transported to this 'world'? Making any kind of theory was impossible with his lack of information, he could create any number of theories, but it would be a waste of time if the report Sebas brought back would dash them all into smithereens. He would need to perform some tests by himself first.

"Albedo, give me your wrist." He ordered, holding out his own hand towards the demon NPC. Receiving a 'Yes, Saber Shirou-sama' as a response, Albedo placed her delicate wrist in his hand. Using his fingers to feel for a pulse, he was rewarded with the strong and healthy beating of her heart pushing the blood through her artery. Just as he suspected then, the NPC had gained both emotions and a physical body of flesh and blood.

Though for some reason the pulse began to rise as he checked. Was she feeling sick? The info for demons didn't reveal much of the species or its history so he wouldn't be able to tell if she was feeling sick or if it was natural for demons to have a higher pulse.

Releasing the Albedo's wrist, he thanked her for helping him in his test. As she bowed in submission, he performed yet another experiment on her. Activating his Structural Analysis, he used it on Albedo's body. If this was an illusion then using Structural Analysis would reveal any flaws in the illusion. He had already abandoned the thought of it being another dive game, no game company could ever recreate the scent of prana or magic circuits.

Just like how it would have worked in his world, he received a bunch of meaningless information in his head. None of it mattered as much as the fact that he had performed magecraft on what had until now been nothing more than a bunch of data and coding. His circuits were there and active, an indication that his soul was still alive, but if his soul was in this 'body' what about his human body? Had it been left behind in his old world, dead for the entire world to see?

One thing at a time, he told himself. He needed to run some more tests before he could say anything for sure.

"Inform Demiurge to meet me by the sixth floor and alert for the sixth floor's guardian that I will be arriving there shortly. I'm going to run some tests in case my fears are confirmed so tell him to arrive within the hour. You should also be there so you might as well go and fetch him in person. I have something I must investigate." He said, standing up and grabbing the golden staff in his hand.

"Of course, Saber Shirou-sama, we will obey your commands. However, I must admit my curiosity. Isn't that the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown? I was under the impression that only the guildmaster could wield it, after he had received permission of all the other Supreme Beings." The maxed out demon asked, eyeing the staff with wonder in her eyes. Surprised by her question, Shirou struggled to come up with an appropriate answer.

"Yes, indeed it is. Normally you'd be right, but since I'm the only member left in Ainz Ooal Gown, I'm automatically the guildmaster and I have given myself permission to wield it. Did that answer your question?" Spending years in Clock Tower hiding a huge secret was finally paying off. He could at last lie without looking like a fool.

"Yes, I apologize for my rudeness. I will inform the Demiurge immediately." She bowed in respect to his decision.

"That's alright, Albedo, you were right to ask me about the staff. Remember to meet me in the sixth floor in an hour, I have a feeling Sebas will have some important news to tell us." He said before teleporting out of the throne hall.

* * *

 **ARE**

* * *

Appearing in the corridor leading to the sixth floor's Amphitheatre, Shirou let out a long sigh. It had been a long time since he had experienced a situation as hectic and mysterious as this one. It felt like the Grail War all over again, with all the guessing and hinting he had to do just now. He was stumbling around in the dark and he hated every second of it. The reason he wanted to go to the sixth floor was because it had a lot of open spaces and he was fairly certain the dark elf twins who served as the guardians wouldn't betray him the moment they saw him. He and Bukubukuchagama had been on very good terms and he had even helped her out in real life on several occasions. Not physically of course, he was fairly sure the girl was twice as strong as he was by that point. Instead he had allowed her to stay at his house in Fuyuki whenever she was in town for work. She travelled quite a lot for a voice actor, even though she never once allowed him to see her work. She had even banned her brother from telling him of what kind of project she was working on.

It did make him feel a little bullied whenever he asked and she would refuse to utter a single word of it.

He opened the door to the Amphitheatre and let out a gasp of amazement. The sky, which had been impressive for an amateur programmer like Blue Planet, had suddenly gained a life of its own. The stars did not look like painted spots on a canvas anymore, they twinkled and glimmered with their own light, creating a mesmerizing sight for sore eyes. Walking into the fighting area, he looked around for the guardians responsible for this floor.

"Aura, Mare, come out! I have a job for the two of you." He said loudly for the Floor Guardians to hear. Not receiving an answer at first, he was about to repeat his words when a loud yell was heard. Jumping off a ledge which was at the height equivalent of a six-story building, a short boyish looking girl landed on the ground, creating a small cloud of dust as her feet slammed into the dirt. Racing towards him, the girl stopped just a few feet away from him while saluting with her right hand.

"Guardian of the Sixth floor, Aura Bella Fiora at your service! Welcome to the Sixth floor of The Great Tomb of Nazarick, Saber Shirou-sama" The hyperactive dark elf said, a cheerful and warm smile on her face. Like all dark elves, Aura had dark skin similar to his own tanned complexion. Her pointed ears stood out amongst her blonde hair and her heterochromia had presented itself as her left eye being blue while her right eye was green. Sleeves made from red dragon scales covered her arms and most likely her entire torso under her vest. Wearing clothes meant for young men and having the carelessness of a young child, Aura could have passed for a boy if it wasn't for the girly voice and feminine face she had been created with. Like an overexcited child, she made an elaborate bow before looking up at him once more.

"Thank you, Aura, I hope I didn't disturb you in your duties." He apologised, not knowing what to say. The dark elf in front of him didn't seem to mind it though, as she smiled at him with that large warm smile Bukubukuchagama had programmed her to have.

"Hahaha, don't worry about it, Saber Shirou-sama. You're one of the forty-one Supreme Beings, you own Nazarick to begin with. You could never disturb us." Aura smiled confidently. "Actually, knowing you came all the way here to meet us made the day that much better!"

"Speaking of 'us', where is your brother?" The guardians on this floor were twins. The girl, Aura, was in front of him, but where was her brother?

Sighing in disbelief, Aura turned to the place she had come from. "Mare, what are you doing? Saber Shirou-sama came here to see us! It's disrespectful to keep him waiting." The short girl said angrily. In response to her words, a diminutive form atop the platform emerged slowly.

"No way, Nee-chan, it's too scary." The small form said, hiding away as much as possible while still being seen.

"Mare!" Aura yelled, her voice increasing in volume. That seemed to make the figure understand the situation as the dark form appeared to nod in resignation.

"G-Got it, I'm coming down now." The figure said, jumping down from the ledge. Unlike Aura, who had jumped out with all her power, her brother simply fell off the ledge, almost tripping when he landed. Dusting himself off, he started jogging to the center of the amphitheatre.

"Sorry I'm late." Mare apologized, bowing his head. Unlike his sister, who wore men's clothes despite being a girl, Mare wore women's clothing despite being a boy. Wearing a skirt and a vest over a dragon scale suit, he also wore a cloak as green as a leaf. Like his sister, he had heterochromia, but his left eye was green and right eye blue. He carried a wooden staff in his hands, giving away his role as a Magic Caster.

"Mare, Saber Shirou-sama came down here personally to visit us. You can't act like this in front of a Supreme Being, especially not the guildmaster!" Aura reprimanded her younger brother.

"I know, Nee-chan, but it's still scary. I just want to go inside and sleep." Mare whimpered under his older sister's tirade.

"It's fine, Aura." Shirou interrupted the two of them. He still had some questions and he needed run some tests before the rest of the guardians arrived. "More importantly, how did you know I was the guildmaster?" It had been a lie he told Albedo, why did Aura know about it?

"Because Albedo told us and said you were coming to greet us. She said you were the last Supreme Being left and that meant you became the Ruler of Nazarick by default." The older sister explained before turning to the object in his hand. "Is it true? Is that the guild weapon only the guildmaster is allowed to use?" The elf girl asked, her eyes glued to the golden staff in his hand. Lifting it for them to take a closer look, he answered their question. An idea appeared in his head and he had to hide the smirk on his face.

"You mean The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown? The weapon which is capable of summoning monsters of the Level eighty-five and higher? The staff which took all forty-one members of Ainz Ooal Gown years of hard work and pay checks simply in order to acquire the raw materials to craft the staff? The symbol of the guild which two people had to go to the hospital for because they strained their bodies in order to gain a high enough level to craft it? Did you mean that staff?" He asked dramatically, enjoying the excited smiles on the dark elves' visages.

"Is it that the one?" The two of them asked, stars in their eyes.

"No, this is something I found in a public restroom." He deadpanned. He chuckled when the smiles were wiped from their faces, replaced by disappointment. "It was just a joke, I apologize. Yes, this is The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown." He admitted, hiding his grin with his hand.

"So it really is true, that is the guild weapon of Ainz Ooal Gown. It's the first time I've seen something like it." Mare whispered, captivated by the sheer amount of magical energy it was releasing simply by existing.

"That's how it is. Anyway, before we get off topic again, I was wondering if you could help me with a little test. Something has happened and I want to make sure everything is working as it should. So, want to help me with a magic experiment?" He asked the twins, excited twin nods being their reply.

"There's no need to ask, the Flor Guardians of The Great Tomb of Nazarick will always be willing to support their masters without question!" Aura, the hyperactive child that she was, answered immediately. Even Mare nodded without hesitation, though he looked remarkably frightened for someone so eager to help.

"That's what I wanted to hear." Raising his staff, he began to focus his mind on the magic he wanted to use. Despite being a Warrior build first and foremost, Shirou had spent quite a few levels as a Magic Caster to balance his character. While it was nothing compared to Momonga and Smaragdina Tabula, it was not an insignificant amount of spells he had learnt. The average level 100 players could only know up to three-hundred spells, but Momonga had been able to learn up to seven-hundred spells. Shirou on the other had barely managed to learn fifty before he reached the maximum level and couldn't learn more spells. Most of them were spells meant for crowd control, such as summoning weaker golems or elementals that were not meant for powerful enemies, but he did have a few heavy punches in his arsenal. It had taken him years to learn his first 5th tier spell, but it had been worth it because it had enabled him to fight on the frontlines without fear of being out of range of any healing spells.

He wasn't going to need 5th tier spells here though, all he needed to do was to confirm that the spells in the game and his magecraft worked as they should. Focusing on the spell, he was surprised to find his entire repertoire of spells at his command, all recorded inside his head. He could also sense the magical energy he had at his disposal and it was…

If it wasn't for his years of practice at hiding his surprise, he might have let out a surprised shout when he focused on his circuits. He knew his circuits very well, having spent much of his life using and abusing them to their limits. He knew exactly how much prana he was capable of producing with his low-quality circuits and this was not the same amount as what he had in his own world. His old and weak circuits from his human body were there, he had used them earlier in the throne room, but they had brought friends from out of nowhere. Hundreds of high-quality circuits had materialized from somewhere, giving him an untold amount of prana to use. When had this happened? How had this happened?

The MP stat of his character… had the MP of his character been absorbed into his soul to create additional circuits? Was that even possible? A magus' total amount of circuits was determined at birth, it should be impossible to add additional circuits without a crest. He could not sense any magic crest or anything similar, meaning the circuits he was sensing were his own. That should be impossible, every bone in his body as telling him there must be some kind of mistake.

Then again, this body had just recently been born using his soul and his game avatar as raw ingredients. By that logic it should be possible, in theory, to create a body using the magical potential of both the sources. But there was no evidence behind that theory, just haphazard guessing.

He was starting to feel a headache emerge in the depths of his skull, pounding like a drum at a rock concert. He ordered the twins to set up targets for shooting practice. After a minute preparation, a line of scarecrows had been prepared.

"Trace on."

Activating his old circuits, he traced a number of nameless swords and held them in the air. Firing them one at a time, the blades soared through the air and penetrated the chest of the scarecrows without fail.

"So there's nothing wrong with my magecraft. That's good to know, I would have been in deep trouble if my tracing had been compromised." He let the swords stay where they were, impaled on the scarecrows. Deciding to try a spell from Yggdrasil, he found the one he wanted after a quick search.

"Fireball."

The most basic of his offensive spells, he had used it whenever he needed to cause magic damage against an opponent who was immune to his swords and arrows. It was a very simplistic spell, as it only had a single purpose; to burn its target in a sea of flames.

The fireball which appeared struck one of the scarecrows, causing a shockwave which would have blown the twins away if they weren't guarded by the dragonkin Aura had summoned. The flames scorched the earth and the sword he had traced earlier melted as the heat overpowered the steel. The ground became black from soot and eventually the flames died down, leaving nothing aside from ashes in its wake.

"That was fun." He remarked, witnessing the destruction his weakest combat spell had caused. Now he knew he could use both magecraft and the magic of Yggdrasil. That was good, at least he knew he wouldn't be helpless in case Demiurge or Shalltear decided a coup d'état would be a good course of action. Since he could use the Elementalist (Fire) spells, he could reason that he could use the earth element and his cleric spells too. If that was the case, he should try a more advanced spell to make sure it worked properly. Feeling the intense stares of the twins beside him, he felt a slight pressure on his shoulders. What were they expecting? Did they want him to start throwing 5th tier spells around like they were going out of fashion?

Using the other spells he had learned in the game, he sent a spear of light and a large boulder at the rest of the scarecrows. Confirming that his magical spells were intact against all odds, he felt assured he wouldn't be fighting a losing battle should his former team mates' creations turn against him. The thought of facing Demiurge without magecraft or magic was enough to send a shiver down his spine. His physical stats might be high enough to give a proper fight, but brute strength and speed was something all the Floor Guardians possessed.

"So what is it you wanted to test, Saber Shirou-sama? All you've been doing is casting magic on the scarecrows for a while now, I thought you'd be using more powerful magic or something." Aura said, her voice sounding bored. She had climbed up on the Dragonkin's head and was waving her legs about in boredom.

"I simply wanted to see if magic still worked after whatever had happened." He said confidently. It was the honest truth, even if he didn't exactly know what had happened.

"Huh? Had something happened? We didn't notice at all!" Aura said shocked. Mare nodded shyly beside her, having also climbed up the back of the Dragonkin.

"I'm not exactly sure myself, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. What about you? Are you powers working properly?" He asked them in return.

"Everything is perfect, even better since you came to visit us in person!" Aura's excited reply was immediate, requiring no further thought on the subject. Shirou nodded in understanding.

"I see, that's good." The NPCs had not experienced any change in the environment, probably because until now they had not actually been alive. This was their everyday 'life', endlessly guarding the guild from invaders. Did they remember anything from the time they were playing? If they hadn't then how had Albedo and Aura known about the guild weapon? It was information none of them had mentioned in the character settings or summary. Had their memories of Yggdrasil become actual… memories? It sounded ridiculous, but the entire situation had transcended the level of ridiculous and was encroaching on the borders of laughable.

Despite having a body resembling his twenty year old self, he was feeling every single year of his actual body right now. He had thought the days of facing off against overwhelming odds were over and that he'd spend the rest of his days sitting in front of the TV with his grandchildren, eating whatever they thought was good for his health.

Now he was thrust into a… He didn't know how to describe it even! A game world? A game made into reality? He was getting a migraine simply thinking about it.

" _Saber Shirou-sama?"_ He heard a voice say suddenly. Supressing the instinct to jump up in surprise, he looked around for the speaker. Seeing no one except Mare and Aura and the dragonkin, he thought he was going insane before he recognized the voice to be that of Sebas'.

' _Is he using Message? Can NPCs do that?'_ He thought before answering using Message himself. _"Sebas, what is the situation outside?"_ He asked the butler.

" _It's hard to explain. It appears Nazarick has been surrounded by grasslands and the sky of Hel Heim has been replaced by a night sky. Even after searching this entire time, I have not been able to find a single intelligent being aside from common beasts. I expanded my search to two kilometres and found a small village, but nothing about the village itself was of note."_ Sebas said, his voice carrying a hint of caution. _"I have compared the surrounding area with all the maps we brought with us, but nothing on any of the maps of the nine realms is corresponding to the land's layout. After exchanging theories with the Pleiades, I must conclude that Nazarick has been transported to an unknown location using unknown magic."_

Nothing on the maps of all nine worlds corresponds to the surrounding area? True, he had never heard of any grasslands stretching out for kilometres in Yggdrasil, only small fields where it was possible to farm drops from monsters. If the place they had been transported to was not on any Yggdrasil maps then was it possible The Kaleidoscope had something to do with it? Alternate dimensions in a videogame? It sounded much too convoluted to make sense.

" _Understood, did you see any landmarks we can use in the future? Like mountains or forests?"_

" _Nothing aside from the village I mentioned earlier. It is truly a desolate place if not for the view. Shall I increase the search radius?_ The Iron Butler asked, his voice steady and calm.

" _No, return to Nazarick as soon as possible and head for the sixth floor. I have called Albedo and Demiurge for an emergency meeting and I want you to give your complete report there. Can you teleport back to Nazarick or is there something preventing you?"_ Out of all the NPCs, Sebas was the one he felt the most at ease with. Most NPCs were created with very high Evil Karma, but few were given any high Good Karma. In fact, aside from Victim, Cocytus and the NPC he himself created, Sebas was the only 'Guardian' to have positive Karma. If he was nit-picking then Victim shouldn't count as having a positive Karma since he only had a single positive Karma point, unlike Sebas' 300 or his own NPC's 500 positive Karma points.

It was also the reason he wanted to have Sebas with him when he met with Demiurge and Albedo. Along with Shalltear, those two possessed the highest Evil Karma in Nazarick from what he could remember. He didn't know their exact settings, but it was close to the limit for all of them. Having Sebas close at hand would not only give him an ally if push came to shove, but it would also calm his nerves during the meeting.

" _There is nothing preventing me from teleporting, but the Pleiades will need to walk or fly the way back. If there is nothing else you desire then I will be there in five minutes, Saber Shirou-sama."_ The Iron butler informed him and he was certain the NPC was bowing to thin air while talking to him using Message. It was a weird contrast to his creator, Touch Me. Shirou had never met Touch Me in real life, but they had been very good friends in Yggdrasil. The root of their friendship originated from the fact that they had a similar idolization for heroes. When Touch Me had created Sebas, Shirou would have expected the man to make the butler into a mini-Touch Me, filled with energy and speeches of justice. In reality it seemed Sebas was about as silly as a mountain was soft.

" _I will be waiting on the sixth floor. Until then Sebas, take care."_ He said, cancelling the spell.

Five more minutes before Sebas arrived, as long as he could hold for five minutes then he was sure he could handle anything Demiurge or Albedo could throw his way. Aura and Mare were mostly neutral from what he could tell, but he wasn't certain about anything regarding their settings. Bukubukuchagama had never allowed him to see their settings when she created them, even though he had allowed her to see his NPC while he was programming him. She had been awfully secretive whenever her Floor Guardians had been the topic of conversation, enough so that he wondered just what she had done while programming them.

If Sebas and the dark elf twins were on his side when either or both of the 'evil' NPCs betrayed him then he was certain he could defeat them. That was of course, if Sebas and the dark elf twins were on his side.

Shaking his heads from such thoughts, he tried remembering what he knew about the NPCs in Nazarick. All NPCs were naturally obedient to the members of whatever guild had created then in the first place. The only exception he could think of was the penguin butler which had been purposely programmed to have ambitions to conquer the guild. He was however so weak Shirou was certain he could have defeated him in his human body with only reinforcement to aid him. Demiurge and Albedo on the other hand were much more powerful, but he wasn't entirely sure they were going to betray him.

Even if he knew they were fundamentally evil, that didn't really mean much one they had been turned into living beings, did it? Simply because someone had assigned a number on their Karma didn't mean they would automatically turn into Kotomine and cause as much despair and murder as they possibly could…

…right?

In the end, all he could do was to prepare himself as best as he possibly could and hope for the best.

"Saber Shirou-sama, as you requested, we have gathered on the sixth floor." Albedo's sensual voice said from behind him. He hadn't noticed her arrival, his thoughts about Sebas and the upcoming meeting with Demiurge distracting him. Turning around, he prepared himself for the first meeting with the NPC in charge of the strategic defence of Nazarick.

Only it wasn't just him he was seeing.

"We, the Floor Guardians of The Great Tomb of Nazarick, bow to the Supreme Ruler, Saber Shirou-sama." Albedo said, kneeling down on the ground before him. Behind her, all the Floor Guardians of Nazarick had assembled and were following Albedo's example. He could see Cocytus, the ice ant-mantis carrying a halberd, mace and sword in his hands. Beside him was Shalltear Bloodfallen, an NPC he hadn't seen in years and Peroroncino's creation if he was not mistaken. Aura and Mare had fallen into a kneeling position beside her, both of them lowering their head in a symbol of respect. The man he had requested to see was on the left of Mare, his glasses concealing covering his closed eyes.

"First, second and third Floor's Guardian, Shalltear Bloodfallen, offers her loyalty to the master." The silver haired gothic Lolita said, kneeling into the dirt.

"Fifth Floor's Guardian, Cocytus, offers his loyalty to the master." The Ice ant-mantis from hell said as he too kneeled in the dirt.

"Sixth Floor's Guardian, Aura Bella Fiora, offers her loyalty to the master." Aura smiled, bowing her head.

"Also… the sixth Floor's Guardian, Mare Bello Fiora, offers his loyalty to the master." Mare seemed to shrink as he said those words, his courage only enough to say the bare minimum in front of other people it seemed.

"Seventh Floor's Guardian, Demiurge, offers his loyalty to the master." The man with pointy ears and wearing a bright suit and tie, he would have seemed almost human if it weren't for the silver tail adorned with spikes resting on the ground.

This was the Guardian he had wanted to see, but why were the rest of the Guardians here? He hadn't asked for them, had he? His plan was to meet Demiurge in private to analyse as much of his personality as possible to get a good bead on him. He couldn't do that with all these people around.

"Commander of the Floor Guardians of Nazarick, Albedo, offers her undying loyalty to the master..."

For some reason he felt that Albedo's words differed from the other Floor Guardians somehow. Maybe it was because she was the commander and he merely…

"As well as my love!"

…merely what did she say?

It took all his willpower not to let his emotions show on his face as he desperately fought to keep his iron mask on in front of the Floor Guardians. His plan to evaluate Demiurge and Albedo had been thrown out the window with the arrival of the rest of the Guardians, but he could still salvage the situation at hand.

"I-I see, thank you Albedo. It warms my heart to hear you say that." He finally said diplomatically.

Crap, it had been a long time since someone had said anything even close to that to him, his façade was falling to pieces faster than he could collect himself. He had no idea how the other guardians viewed weakness, but he was fairly certain they didn't like a weak leader. He would need to give off a better impression from now on. "Since we have more important matters to attend to right now, I will get straight to the point. Have any of you sensed anything wrong in the last hour?" He asked them, already knowing the answer in his heart.

A collective 'No' was heard as all the Floor Guardians answered his question. Having already suspected them to say so after having heard Aura and Mare's answer to the question earlier, he had prepared a strategy for such an answer.

"Less than an hour ago, I sensed a disturbance. I sent Sebas out to investigate the disturbance and he discovered something rather remarkable. It seems that Nazarick has been transported to some unknown land which may even be a different world altogether. Sebas, give your report." He motioned for to take the stage, but the dragonoid butler instead stood to the side, as if the center stage was forbidden territory.

Or was it because that's where Shirou was currently standing? How thoughtful of him, to even go so far.

"In the last hour I have been surveying the land with the Pleiades on Saber Shirou-sama's orders. Instead of finding the swamp which normally surrounds Nazarick, we found grasslands as far as the eye can see. In a two kilometre search radius, the only thing we found was a small village near a large forest, but there was nothing useful to be found at the village I'm afraid. As I told Saber Shirou-sama…" Shirou supressed another wince as Sebas, the Iron Butler, said his game alias with enough respect to make it feel like he was royalty. "…None of the maps of the nine realms correspond to the land surrounding Nazarick."

His words shocked the guardians assembled, and Shirou took the chance to analyse their reactions. Albedo's reaction was fairly ordinary, with her mouth open and eyes wide. Shalltear had a similar reaction, although it was slightly stronger than Albedo's. Aura and Mare looked to each other before blinking confused. It seemed the topic was flying over their heads, not that surprising considering their age appearance-wise. Cocytus simply released ice cold air from his mouth, but whether it was from surprise, anger or excitement he couldn't tell. He had to admit, Cocytus had one hell of a poker face, though it was mostly because Cocytus had an insect's face and had no cheeks or eyebrows to move. The exoskeleton made it hard to express emotions most likely.

Out of all the guardians, it was Demiurge who had the most interesting reaction. Rather than to express his surprise, he seemed interested in the phenomena Sebas had just described. As expected, Shirou would have to be careful with Demiurge. His intellect was the highest among the floor guardians for a reason, being the NPC in charge of Nazarick defences. Looking directly at Sebas, Demiurge seemed to be coming up with scenarios even as the butler explained what he had seen.

"Going from what Sebas said, I believe we have been transported to another world rather an unknown land. The maps Sebas used cover all the realms, meaning we must be outside of all those realms if he cannot find us on the map." Only something as powerful as The Kaleidoscope could have done this, which meant something the level of true magic had been used to bring him here. The question is why they would do something like this. "That is why I want you to raise the security around Nazarick. Demiurge, Albedo, do you have any suggestions?" He turned to the NPCs in charge of tactical defences and commanding the floor guardians.

Demiurge was the first to answer his question. "I believe our first action should be acquiring information regarding the lands around us. The village Sebas mentioned might be small, but they could provide us with precious intel." The Arch demon said, as if he had not just been told he had been thrust into an alternate world.

"I agree…" Shirou said. "But it's currently night and the majority of the village is sleeping. Waking them up would quite rude, wouldn't you say? Sebas, what kind of races were the inhabitants of the village? And what kind of technology did they possess?" Depending on the race of the villagers, he could plan for their reactions. Humans might fear the monstrous appearance of Cocytus and Demiurge, while monsters would not take the human appearance of Aura and mare seriously.

The technology used was also important. In Yggdrasil, technology was based on the Middle Ages, with magic and swords being the norm. On his world though, technology had progressed enough to create virtual realities and dive games. If this world was based on Yggdrasil then he was betting on the village being the former, using medieval tools and weapons.

"They were all human from what I could see and were not very technologically advanced from what I gathered. They were using tools we haven't seen in decades for farming." The Iron Butler answered dutifully. Thinking about the different possibilities, he finally settled on one which seemed logical. Glancing at Demiurge, Albedo and Shalltear, he tried gauging their reactions to his solution.

"In that case, once Nazarick has been secured and a security system has been implemented, Sebas and I will head to the village in search for information. Our appearances resemble that of a human's the most in Nazarick aside from the Pleiades and the homunculus maids. Albedo, would you be able to set up a safety perimeter around Nazarick?" His words were directed to all of them at first, but the last was meant for commander of the guardians.

"We could summon lesser demons and order them to create walls around Nazarick and order the stronger servants to guard inside those walls. They would need a capable commander though, in case an enemy attacked before a Floor Guardian could aid them." Albedo said, her earlier words of love having been replaced with a voice of absolute professionalism.

"That would be a good idea. How large could you make the wall?"

"With Nazarick at its center, the radius would be a hundred meters to make room for the larger monsters. In height we could build something close to twenty meters with ten meters in thickness. We could make it stronger if we used Mare's powers as well. Would that be to your satisfaction, Saber Shirou-sama?" Albedo said, her eyes focused on his form. For a moment, he felt as if she was undressing him with her eyes, but it was over before he could confirm anything. Instead she was back to being the professional commander from before.

Ten meters in thickness? That would be a pretty thick wall then, especially if this world was using medieval tools. He was going to give her the command to build the wall, but he finally realized something he needed to do.

"It would be most satisfactory, but there is something I'd like you to do." He said, putting up the most regal act he could. He needed to put up a strong front, one the NPCs would respect and follow. If he showed any weakness it was possible the NPCs with high Evil Karma might rise up against him.

"Just say the word and the Floor Guardians of Nazarick will give their lives to fulfil your commands." Albedo said, her eyes practically worshipping him. It took all of his will not to stutter in response. Damn it, he was almost one-hundred and fifty years old and he was being shocked by a woman who barely looked a fifth his age.

"Please give us your commands!" the rest of the Floor Guardians said in perfect harmony, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand. Clearing his throat to disguise the awkwardness he was feeling, he decided to go forward with his idea.

"From here on out, you will refer to me as 'Shirou' and not 'Saber Shirou', understood? Because 'Saber Shirou' is long and needlessly complicated, I feel it would be more productive if you all called me 'Shirou'." He said, his voice filled with fake pride and nobility.

To hear them say his fake name with respect and devotion was not only embarrassing, but also emotionally exhausting. He'd prefer it if they simply used his name, saving time and his dignity.

"As you command, Shirou-sama!" the collective voices of the floor guardians replied.

"That is all for now, return to your duties." He spoke with a tone conveying authority. He teleported away, leaving the guardians alone in the Amphitheatre.

He needed to go to bed.

Hopefully the headache he had been suffering from all day would disappear by tomorrow.

 **ARE**


End file.
